This Italian Pasta Salad has all of your favorite Italian flavors wrapped up in one salad. Salami, cheese, veggies, and pasta, all coated in an easy Italian dressing.
Want more of those great Italian flavors? Check out this Italian Melt or this Italian Chopped Salad.
I guess you can call this the summer of pasta salads. Because I’ve been obsessed!
And this Italian Pasta Salad is definitely a winner. I’m a huge fan of Italian flavors, especially when you get the salty salami and the creamy mozzarella, all combined with crunchy peppers and a fun pasta. Don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients – this all actually comes together very quickly!
This salad is perfect for backyard bbqs, and great for family dinners!
Ingredients
- Oil: I like to use avocado oil, but you can use another neutral oil, like vegetable or canola. If you don’t mind the stronger flavor, you can use olive oil, as well.
- Lemon Juice: You want to use fresh lemon juice. The lemon juice brings in a bright flavor, and adds some tang.
- Vinegar: I like to use red wine vinegar. You could also use white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- Mustard: Dijon mustard will give you the best flavor, or you could use a brown or spicy mustard.
- Italian Seasoning: This is just dried Italian seasoning. You’ll use it in both the dressing and some in the salad.
- Sugar: This just balances the flavors out. Feel free to leave the sugar out if you want to keep it sugar free.
- Garlic Powder: I will typically just use garlic powder, but you could also use a clove of minced or grated garlic, as well.
- Pasta: My favorite pasta to use for this salad is the trim-color rotini pasta. But really, any short cut pasta will work!
- Salami: I like to get a thick cut of salami at the deli counter. They will usually cut it thick for you, and then you can cut it into cubes. But if you need to use pre-sliced salami, just dice it into smaller pieces.
- Cheese: You will need both mozzarella balls and parmesan cheese. For the mozzarella, I like to use the really small balls so I don’t have to cut anything, but if you can only find the bigger mozzarella balls, just cut them into smaller pieces.
- Vegetables: For the vegetables, I add half a green bell pepper, half a red bell pepper, halved cherry or grape tomatoes, and diced red onion.
- Pepperoncini Peppers: My family is obsessed with pepperoncini peppers, so we use the whenever possible. You could also use banana peppers.
- Parsley: This is fresh parsley.
- Olives: I just used canned sliced black olives. You can get fancy and use specialty Italian olives.
How to Make Italian Pasta Salad
STEP 1: Make the dressing by combining all of the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight lid, then shake them well to combine. You can also do this in a blender, but I find it’s easier to just do it in a jar.
STEP 2: Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Once it’s done, drain and rinse with cold water. You want to make sure you stop the cooking.
STEP 3: Add the pasta to a large bowl, along with all of the other salad ingredients.
STEP 4: Pour the dressing over the salad, then stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate the salad until you are ready to serve it.
Tips and Tricks
- This salad is best when it has time to sit in the refrigerator for the flavors to meld together. You can serve it right away, but it is best with some time to sit.
- You can also make this even a day ahead of time. I actually served some leftovers 3 days later, and they still weren’t totally soggy!
- Make sure you don’t cook your pasta too far. It will absorb the dressing, so if the pasta is overcooked, it can get extra soggy.
- There are a lot of ingredients in this salad, so if there is one that you don’t care for, just simply leave it out.
More Pasta Salad Recipes
Shrimp Pasta Salad
Caprese Pasta Salad
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
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Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 3/4 cup avocado oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Salad:
- 12 oz tri-color rotini pasta
- 8 oz salami cubed or chopped
- 8 oz mozzarella balls
- 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
- 1/2 green bell pepper diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper diced
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 1/2 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1 (2.5 oz) can sliced black olives drained
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Combine the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, Italian seasoning, sugar, and garlic powder in a small jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake generously until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper, as desired.3/4 cup avocado oil, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, Salt and pepper
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously, and add the pasta. Cook until al dente. Once done, drain and run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking.12 oz tri-color rotini pasta
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta with the salami, mozzarella, tomatoes, green pepper, red pepper, red onion, pepperoncini peppers, parsley, olives, parmesan, and Italian seasoning.8 oz salami, 8 oz mozzarella balls, 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/2 green bell pepper, 1/2 red onion, 1/2 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 (2.5 oz) can sliced black olives, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1/2 red bell pepper
- Pour the dressing over the salad and stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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